Christie: 'Misled' by staff; 'deeply saddened' by e-mails

Emails reveal political vendetta against mayor; gov had denied it

Jan. 9, 2014

Gov. Chris Christie / FILE PHOTO

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After new emails showed the creation of traffic havoc on the George Washington Bridge was a political vendetta hatched by some of Gov. Chris Christie’s closest staffers, the governor made a rare about-face Wednesday and said he was “misled” and “deeply saddened” by revelations that a member of his administration was fully involved in the incident.

Christie said the politically motivated actions, revealed in a series of emails between a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employee and one of the governor’s deputy chiefs of staff, were both unsanctioned and unacceptable. The emails were obtained by New Jersey Press Media and other news organizations.

“What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge,” Christie said in a statement released at 4:29 p.m.

It was a stunning change of course for the Republican governor, who had forcefully denied his administration had anything to do with the closings, and it has set up a showdown with angry Democrats eager to inflict political damage on the nationally prominent Christie.

Some wondered if Christie’s carefully crafted brand as a pragmatic bipartisan has taken a fatal hit, just as he is ramping up his national profile in anticipation of a run for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

“Gov. Christie has spent an enormous amount of effort trying to get away from the narrative that he is a bully,” said Matthew Hale, a Seton Hall associate professor and political expert. “These emails destroy all of that effort in a single day.”

Damage control

But Christie sought to blunt that damage and cast blame on a rogue staffer, despite the administration’s reputation for running an airtight operation in which no action is taken without careful vetting first.

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“One thing is clear: This type of behavior is unacceptable, and I will not tolerate it because the people of New Jersey deserve better,” Christie said. “This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.”

Christie’s statement made no mention of the fate of Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly, whose email exchange with David Wildstein, a Christie appointee at the Port Authority, revealed the political nature of the closures.

Those emails are the first direct evidence that the governor’s staff was aware of the closures and the traffic problems they created. The exchange between Kelly and Wildstein was conducted through personal email accounts and it shows that Kelly knew of the lane closures before they happened.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly wrote on Aug. 13 from a Yahoo! email account.

“Got it,” replied Wildstein from a private Gmail account.

The emails also contradict Christie’s previously stated belief that his senior staff, of which Kelly is a member, was blameless in the flap.

At a Dec. 13 news conference at the Statehouse, Christie said he had “absolutely no reason to believe” that any staff member, either in the Governor’s Office or his campaign, ordered the closures.

“I’ve made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this, they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it. And they’ve all assured me that they don’t,” Christie said.

Democrats react

“Either his staff lied to him or we have a governor who’s less than truthful with the people of New Jersey,” Weinberg said.

The documents had others — such as Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex — wondering if any laws were broken.

“This governor has a lot of explaining to do,” Wisniewski, the chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said during an afternoon news conference. Wisniewski’s panel is tasked with investigating the closures.

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Christie’s afternoon statement appears to be an effort to blunt the criticisms of Weinberg and Wisniewski, who earlier had hinted that he would not rule out calling Christie himself before his committee to discuss the lane closures.

The switch in traffic patterns between Fort Lee and the bridge resulted in huge traffic jams throughout the Bergen County town for four days, along with several delays in emergency services, before Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority, ordered the access lanes reopened. One 91-year-old woman later died at a hospital after emergency services to her home were delayed because of traffic, according to published reports.

'Children of Buono voters'

Critics have said the lane closures appeared to be a payback for Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who did not endorse the Republican governor’s re-election bid. And the emails and text messages between Wildstein and others show an animus toward the Fort Lee mayor, state Sen. Barbara Buono, who was Christie’s Democratic opponent in the gubernatorial election, and other Democrats.

Sokolich said he and other municipal officials called their contacts at the Port Authority “20, 30, 40 times’’ but failed to get an explanation of why the town was being singled out.

Christie hasn’t apologized, said Sokolich, who was a guest on “All In” with Chris Hayes Wednesday night.

Nor did Sokolich say he wanted to hear from Christie.

“Don’t do me any favors. Don’t reach out for me. You need to reach out to the families who were waiting for ambulances taking three times longer to get there,’’ he said.

At one point, Wildstein, who attended high school with Christie and was one of his political operatives, was exchanging text messages with an undisclosed recipient who wrote, “I feel badly for the kids … I guess.”

“They are the children of Buono voters,” Wildstein replied.

Brigid Callahan Harrison, professor of political science and law at Montclair State University, called the apparent connections of Christie’s senior staff members to the manufactured traffic jams “troubling.”

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“I don’t know if it’s stupidity. I would never call any of these individuals stupid. But what I would call them is arrogant,” Callahan Harrison said.

Democrats quickly seized on the revelation as evidence that Christie’s team was out of control.

“Governor Christie owes us an explanation for why his core team appears to have such disdain for the public trust and how they could seriously abuse the power of the governor’s office right under his nose,” said state Democratic Party Chairman John Currie.

But Callahan Harrison said the droves of Democrats who endorsed the Republican governor are partly to blame for creating a political culture of “absolute authority” under Christie.

“It creates a situation where something like this is doable — yeah, we can stop traffic, who is going to stop us? The culture that permitted this is part of the problem,’’ she said. “I think Democrats bear some responsibility because they have facilitated an environment of absolute authority in Trenton. When you have more than 50 Democratic elected officials endorsing a Republican governor — in my view the Democratic Party was abrogating its responsibility. One of the jobs of the loyal opposition is to hold the party in power’s toes to the fire.”

Christie in December denied that the closing of the lanes was a politically motivated effort, repeating Wildstein’s and former Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni’s assertions that the action was taken as part of a traffic study. Baroni, another Christie appointee, has also resigned.

But the emails indicate a different narrative.

The first morning of the lane closures on Sept. 9, as traffic piled up through Fort Lee, Kelly wrote to Wildstein asking if Sokolich’s calls to the Port Authority about the change had been returned.

“Radio silence,” Wildstein wrote in return. “His name comes right after mayor Fulop.”

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has also complained of rough treatment by the Christie administration because he, too, did not endorse the governor.

The emails also show that Wildstein was in touch with the governor’s political team over early stories about the lane closures and the allegations of political retribution.

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“The mayor is an idiot,” Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien wrote in reply to a Wildstein email containing a Wall Street Journal story on the lane closures. “When some (sic), lose some.”

“I had empty boxes ready to take to work today, just in case. It will be a tough November for this little Serbian,” Wildstein wrote in reply. The “little Serbian” is apparently a reference to Sokolich, who is Croatian.

Stepien, who headed both Christie’s 2009 and 2013 campaigns, was just named as the next chairman of the state Republican Party and is also working for the Republican Governors Association, an organization headed by Christie.

Baroni also appeared obsessed with how the administration viewed his Nov. 25 appearance before the Assembly Transportation Committee to discuss the lane closings.

“Trenton feedback,” Baroni asked Wildstein in a text.

“Good,” Wildstein replied.

“Just good?” Baroni responded, followed by an expletive.

Wildstein then said he had exchanged messages with three people identified only by their first names (brudget (sic), Nicole and Charlie), and all said Baroni did “great.”

Wildstein has been subpoenaed to testify before the Assembly Transportation Committee today.

But already there are rumblings that the probe will expand beyond Wildstein.

“I fully expect this investigation to continue into the next legislative session,” said Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, who will become speaker following next week’s beginning of the new legislative session.